Senior Quality and Process Engineer

About Shift5

Shift5 is the observability platform for onboard operational technology (OT). We’re a rapidly growing scale-up that specializes in cybersecurity, predictive maintenance, and compliance for operational technology (OT) systems across all defense vehicles and commercial aviation. We are a collaborative, passionate, and driven team of dynamic, multidisciplinary experts and we’re focused on helping our customers’ fleets run smarter and safer by accessing and democratizing the volumes of onboard OT data generated by commercial and defense fleets.

Come join us.

Shift5 is seeking an experienced Senior Quality & Process Engineer to join our team. In this role, you will be responsible for tracking product quality, implementing process improvements, designing and maintaining process controls, evaluating production defects, and serving as the key owner of the quality management system. You will balance disciplined quality assurance with practical business execution, helping the organization improve consistency, reduce risk, and scale effectively.

Moving fluidly between enterprise-level process governance and detailed technical work, you’ll troubleshoot production non-conformances alongside test engineers, analyze failure data to uncover systemic reliability patterns, and drive continuous improvement across our hardware and software operations.

• QMS Ownership & Audits: Serve as the maintainer and primary company representative for the AS9100/ISO
  9000 Quality Management System, leading internal process/compliance audits, surveillance, and recertification activities.
• Non-Conformance & CAPA Management: Triage, disposition, and ensure timely closure of non-conformances (NC); lead Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) initiatives to permanently resolve identified failure modes.
• Yield Analysis & Quality Metrics: Track, aggregate, and analyze line yield data, RMAs, and test failures to report yield trends, failure metrics, and QMS audit readiness to cross-functional leadership.
• Inspection & Quality Controls: Establish inspection criteria, acceptance standards, and quality checkpoints; support First Article Inspections (FAI), in-process inspections, final acceptance, and receiving inspection.
• Engineering & Production Partnership: Partner with Hardware, Software, and Test Engineering teams to support defect tracking, design transfer, and configuration control, driving Design for Manufacturability/Testability (DFM/DFT) feedback loops.
• Supply Chain & Vendor Quality: Partner with Supply Chain to review supplier certifications, support supplier qualifications, conduct root cause investigations for non-conforming components, and manage Supplier Corrective Action Requests (SCARs).
• Contract & Compliance Review: Review contracts, statements of work, and customer requirements for quality obligations while ensuring company personnel are equipped with appropriate procedures and training.

• Systemic Quality Governance: You maintain a fully compliant, continuously improving AS9100 QMS that successfully passes surveillance and recertification audits with broad cross-functional buy-in.
• Defect Reduction & High First-Pass Yield: You uncover systemic reliability patterns, permanently resolve root causes through effective CAPA, and measurably increase first-pass yield on the production line.
• Seamless Engineering & Supply Chain Integration: You establish tight feedback loops between Engineering, Production, and Suppliers, ensuring hardware and software deliverables reliably meet strict release and acceptance standards.
• Balanced Operational Scale: You drive quality control, consistency, and compliance without creating unnecessary bureaucracy, maintaining a practical and fast-paced do-er…